As we get ready this week - on Thursday – to announce our 2020-21 Season Plans, I’d like to feature four of our all-time favorites. This extraordinary movement is perhaps Duruflé’s most glittering and brilliant piece. It begins with strings and the gently rippling scales of the organ. The women start the text in gentle 3-part chords. Then, a build-up occurs from far away. Trumpets in the distance hint at what’s coming. The tenors jump in, the strings are whirling away with great excitement. Finally, the bass lines drop to the bottom as the trumpets and voice parts fling themselves up to the highest possible notes. One of the greatest climaxes in all choral music! [This was the final piece we recorded for the Duruflé Album and we went overtime! What you hear is the very final take – made at 11:10pm – completely unedited!!]

– Dennis Keene

MAURICE DURUFLÉ “Sanctus” from Requiem

Voices of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director

from the Delos recording The Duruflé Album ℗ 1995 Delos
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.